Walsh University joins the community in mourning the death of Most Rev. George V. Murry, S.J., Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown and member of the Walsh University Board of Directors since 2007.
Bishop Murry was a frequent guest on campus and often served as Principal Celebrant of Holy Mass during commemorative events. In his early years as Bishop, he would celebrate Founders’ Week on campus and spend time visiting with students, faculty in staff. Most recently, he joined our community in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Fr. Tom Cebula’s Ordination and served as Celebrant of the Diocese’s Faith and Family Festival Holy Mass in September 2019.
In 2009, he was awarded the Walsh University Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and delivered the Commencement Ceremony keynote address.
While his contributions were many, his ability to connect with students and the youngest members of our faith community was one of his endearing strengths. Bishop Murry was an engaged and dedicated member of our Walsh University family and will be dearly missed by all who had the opportunity to know him.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Appointed by Pope Benedict XV, Most Rev. George V. Murry, S.J., was installed as the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown on March 28, 2007.
Bishop Murry was born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1948. After graduating from Catholic elementary and high scools, he attended St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut, and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland where he received a bachelor's degree in Philosophy in 1972. That same year he entered the Society of Jesus. He was ordained for the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus on June 9, 1979. He earned a Masters of Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley in 1979 and a doctorate in American Cultural History from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1994.
Bishop Murry served on the faculty and was dean of student activities at Gonzaga College High School, Washington, D.C., from 1974-1976. He was assistant professor of American Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., from 1986-1990, and president of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., from 1989-1994. He was named Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Detroit-Mercy in 1994.
On January 24, 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed him titular Bishop of Fuerteventura and Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago where he was ordained to the episcopacy on March 20, 1995. On May 5, 1998, Pope John Paul II appointed him Coadjutor Bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Bishop Murry succeeded to the see on June 30, 1999.
Bishop Murry has served on numerous boards including the University of Detroit and Loyola Academy, both in Detroit, Michigan, St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland and Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. He was a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and served on the Domestic Policy and Education Committees. Since 2002, he was on the Board of Directors of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas arm of the U.S. Bishops, which provides food, clothing, shelter and medicine for those in need.
